Brian M. Kleiner, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia; Lawrence J. Hettinger and Yuang-Hsiang Huang, Center for Behavioral Sciences, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, Massachusetts; David M. DeJoy, Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia; and Peter E.D. Love, Department of Civil Engineering, Curtin University, Perth, Australia

Theoretical and practical approaches to safety based on sociotechnical systems principles place heavy emphasis on the intersections between social-organizational and technical-work process factors. Within this perspective, work system design emphasizes factors such as the joint optimization of social and technical processes, a focus on reliable human-system performance and safety metrics as design and analysis criteria, the maintenance of a realistic and consistent set of safety objectives and policies and regular access to the expertise and input of workers. The authors discuss three current approaches to the analysis and design of complex sociotechnical systems: human-systems integration, macroergonomics and safety climate. Each approach emphasizes key sociotechnical systems themes, and each prescribes a more holistic perspective on work systems than do traditional theories and methods. The authors contrasted these perspectives with historical precedents such as system safety and traditional human factors and ergonomics and describe potential future directions for their application in research and practice. The identification of factors that can reliably distinguish between safe and unsafe work systems is an important concern for ergonomists and other safety professionals. This paper presents a variety of sociotechnical systems perspectives on intersections between social-organizational and technology-work process factors as they impact work system analysis, design and operation.

Ergonomics, Volume 58, Issue 4, pages 635-649. Correspondence to: Brian M. Kleiner, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Perry Street, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061; email: bkleiner@vt.edu.